The use of chitosan in absorbent articles for personal hygiene has been disclosed in the literature for various purposes. Such exemplary applications of chitosan are, e.g., absorption of saline fluids like urine or absorption of blood or menses. Further applications of chitosan have been identified in the field of odor control.
Typically, absorbent articles of personal hygiene, such as sanitary napkins, panty liners, diapers, incontinence articles or tampons, comprise an absorbent element for absorbing and retaining fluids. Such absorbent elements are usually constructed of fibers. It has proven most useful to apply the chitosan material in or adjacent to these absorbent elements for maximum functionality. Conventionally, such application of chitosan material to fibrous substrates is facilitated by spraying. Exemplary processes are disclosed in EP-A-1418953 and EP-A-1425049. Both references teach spraying of a solution of chitosan material with a certain droplet size onto the fibrous substrate. By this, a very defined particle size and a very defined manner of application can be achieved. On the other hand, by the nature of spraying processes, the application will always be superficial, i.e., on the surface of the fibrous substrates.
There are applications where it is beneficial to incorporate chitosan material into the interior of a fibrous substrate. Further, spraying applications require a high complexity in terms of equipment and control of process variables.
There is thus a need for providing an alternative for convenient application of chitosan material into fibrous structures.